The so-called ‘Girls‘ War’ was fought between northern and southern Ngāpuhi at Kororāreka (now Russell). Up to 100 Māori were killed or wounded in the fighting, after which the northern alliance took control of the important settlement. Read more...

Moehanga of Ngāpuhi became the first recorded Māori visitor to England when the whaler Ferret berthed in London. Moehanga (or Te Mahanga) had boarded the Ferret when it visited the Bay of Islands late in 1805. Read more...

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The Northern War, fought in the Bay of Islands in 1845-46, was the first serious challenge to the Crown in the years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Its opening shots marked the beginning of the wider North Island conflicts that are often referred to as the New Zealand Wars.

Every year on 6 February, New Zealand marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. For most people, Waitangi Day is a holiday; for many, and especially for Māori, it is a time for reflecting on the Treaty and its place in modern New Zealand.

Page 2 - The first Waitangi DayGovernor-General Lord Bledisloe gifted the Treaty House and grounds at Waitangi to the nation in 1932. Two years later there were celebrations at Waitangi to mark the date of the

War changed the face of New Zealand in the 19th century. Many thousands of Māori died in intertribal Musket Wars between the 1810s and the 1830s. There were more deaths during the New Zealand Wars of the 1840s to 1870s between some Māori and the Crown, which for many tribes had dire consequences.

Thousands of Māori died in the intertribal Musket Wars of the 1810s, 1820s and 1830s. Muskets changed the face of intertribal warfare, decimating some tribes and drastically altering the territorial boundaries of others.

An important feature of early cross-cultural contact in New Zealand was the role of intermediaries (kaiwhakarite) who acted as go-betweens – people from one culture who lived within the other culture and helped bridge the gap between the two.

The first execution in New Zealand was that of a young Maori named Maketu, convicted at Auckland in 1842. Walter Bolton became the last to be executed when he was hanged at Mount Eden prison in 1957. In total there were 83 verified executions for murder and one for treason in New Zealand between these dates.

James Henare was Ngā Puhi leader, soldier, farmer, and community leader. After the Second World War he helped set up the kōhanga reo programme and fought for recognition of Māori rights under the Treaty of Waitangi.

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